Various forms of stakes are widely employed for a variety of purposes; e.g., as supports, props, tethers, braces, fencing, boundary markers, etc. Of particular interest to the present invention is the provision of a stake that is effective for the securement of a structural member against a surface, especially a structural member that serves for the retention and restraint of landscaping or covering materials, pavers, and the like, deposited or laid upon the ground, a base, or other substrates.
Such restraint and retention members are described in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,303 provides a structure for holding paving blocks, which structure is secured by driving nails through it into the ground. U.S. Pat. No. 7,774,993 provides an elongated landscape-retaining or edging strip that is held in place by spikes, driven into the ground, for retention and/or separation of beds of earth or other landscaping fill (i.e., gravel, rock, bark, dirt, sand, mulch) or the retention and maintenance of paving materials (i.e., bricks, paving stones, rock, gravel, etc.).
As is emphasized in both of the above-identified patents, the natural freezing and thawing cycle of the ground (and other permeable outdoor substrates), as well as vehicular and pedestrian traffic, causes movement of deposited landscaping and paving materials. Also recognized therein it the tendency of securing nails and spikes to come loose and pull up out of the ground. Lateral displacement of the ground-engaging fasteners, for which there is a particular tendency with packed clear or open stone substrates, does not appear to have been recognized or addressed.